INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.

This is where you will find the latest news and multimedia from INTERPOL. Read our news stories and speeches; see the Organization in action through videos and photo galleries; and download our fact sheets, brochures and annual reports.

Our global police communications channels and internationally recognized alert systems allow police around the world to share data instantly and securely. A 24-hour contact point and specialized teams provide targeted support to serious crime or disaster incidents.

Intelligence

Pirate networks are vast and far-reaching. Therefore it is not only essential to identify and apprehend pirates following an attack, but also to gather intelligence and use it wisely to prevent future attacks.

Intelligence and evidence collected from piracy cases is contributed by affected countries and organizations and centralized in INTERPOL-coordinated databases. The intelligence is analysed in order to assist authorities in identifying pirates and their leaders and in connecting cases of piracy.

Initiatives

Global Maritime Piracy Database

The INTERPOL National Central Bureau in the United States assisted with the creation of a global database to house information pertaining to maritime piracy investigations. The database includes more than 4,000 records of:

Personal details of pirates and financiers;

Pirates’ telephone numbers and phone records;

Hijacking incidents;

Vessels;

Currency and bank accounts used in ransom payments.

Digital photo album

The INTERPOL Maritime Piracy Task Force has created a digital album containing photos of more than 300 suspected pirates. The photos are shared with authorized international partners and are often used when debriefing released hostages, to help identify their captors.

By using the photo album when debriefing the Filipino crew of the Irene SL, an oil tanker hijacked in February 2011, police were able to identify four of the pirates involved.

Europol Analysis Work File Project

INTERPOL is working alongside Europol on a cooperative project to analyse information related to maritime piracy cases.

Analytical training programme

This initiative aims at enhancing the analytical skills of law enforcement agencies in countries affected by maritime piracy.